Category Archives: News Western Europe

Austria News Western Europe

Austria, the Police, and Roma

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Austria, the Police, and Roma

The Austrian Equal Treatment Commission has intervened following a letter from employees of the Neusiedl am See district police command warning the public about Roma and Sinti. Intended as crime prevention information to combat fraud, the now-deleted text of a Facebook post used “a term perceived as discriminatory regarding the Roma ethnic group,” the ministry stated.

Now the interior Ministry is also investigating.

France News Western Europe Uncategorized

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Many articles this week about a very young mayor (23 years old) in Western France who is trying to get rid of a Roma camp on the coimmune, an conflict that boiled over with pro-Roma militiants  and with opposistion politicians.

Other than that, near Paris, a new camp on private grounds, and also near Paris, the police is accused of violence against Roma after on policeman shot a young dog in the head during a perquisition in the camp.

Austria News Western Europe

Austria, the Police, and Roma

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Austria, the Police, and Roma

Representatives of the Roma community have sharply criticized a letter from the Neusiedl am See district police command. The letter warns of criminal activities by the traveller community. The state police command condemns the wording of the letter and intends to conduct an internal investigation.

Austria Germany News Western Europe

Zentralrat on Austria

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Zentralrat on Austria

The Chairman of the German Central Council of Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose, pointed out that the National Socialists called on the population in 1933 not to buy from Jews and had police and SS troops march in front of Jewish businesses. He was criticising a letter by the Austrian police of the Burgenland warning the population about Sinti and Roma.

Rose appealed to Interior Minister Karner of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) to initiate disciplinary proceedings against those responsible within the police force. He emphasized that the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities entered into force in Austria in 1998. This obligates the state to counteract all forms of anti-Gypsyism. The Central Council stated that the Europe-wide rise of nationalist forces, which often base their political program on racism and incitement and have now become the strongest political force in Austria, is alarming.

Austria News Western Europe

Austria, the Police, and Roma

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Austria, the Police, and Roma

The Austrian Equal Treatment Commission criticized a letter issued by the Burgenland police authority in Neusiedl on Friday, in which the police warned the population about Roma and Sinti. The letter, the Commissioner argued, perpetuates historical anti-Roma stereotypes. The letter’s instruction not to accept services from members of this ethnic group could constitute an incitement to discrimination, emphasized Sandra Konstatzky, head of the Equal Treatment Commission.

Austria Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

Burgtheater Vienna

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Burgtheater Vienna

A theater director is commissioned by the Burgtheater Vienna to stage a play by and with Roma actors. He promptly decides to use the real-life biographies of the participants for his piece and has a house from their village dismantled into 3,000 individual pieces in order to rebuild it on the stage of the Akademietheater. Audience and press eagerly anticipate the extraordinary production and hope for maximum authenticity.

Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Slovenia

Award

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Award

The GoShorts program selected six short films that open up space for questions of power and empowerment – of collectives and individuals. Among them was Kismet by Novo Mesto director Žiga Virc, who received the RheinMain Award. It is the sotory of a 11 years old Romni.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

A long article in the French Le Monde on the Genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust, and the fact that the French are relatively silent about it. Why are they still using “Tsiganes”?

Other news are more of the usual. An article about the so-called insertion vilalge near Nantes, in Western France; a neighbourhood in Lille is unhappy with a Roma camp; and a fire in Montpellier.

Germany News Western Europe

Discrimination in Germany

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Discrimination in Germany

Marcella Herzenberger is the chairwoman of the regional association of German Sinti and Roma in Swabia. In this role, she has been working for years to raise awareness about a very specific form of racism directed against Sinti and Roma. This racism manifests itself in deeply rooted prejudices, discrimination and exclusion, extending to structural disadvantages in education, employment, housing, and everyday life.

News Western Europe Spain

Resistance / Six Centuries

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Resistance / Six Centuries

An article in El Pais about Roma resistqance and the new generation. Unfortunately, they mix up their history. They say six centuries in Europe. Roma have effectively been for six centuries in Western Europe, but for much longer in the Balkan and in Greece.

This is always the same misreading of history, and from a normally good paper. And in addition they state “Roma people”… Would they say Spanish people? Or just Spaniards?

Annoying.

Germany News Western Europe

Racism in Berlin

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Racism in Berlin

Sinti and Roma are increasingly subjected to discrimination. In 2025, the documentation center on anti-Gypsyism run by the Amaro Foro association recorded the highest number of incidents since documentation began: a total of 293 cases – an increase of approximately 19 percent compared to the previous year. According to the association, the actual number of cases is likely even higher.

France News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Romania

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

Lolita Cercel, the AI Romani Singer, managed to make it to the French press. So dit the Council of Europe. The rest is unfrotunately the usual, with Roma having been evicted near Nates in Western France, have nowhere to go. And in another place, Roma are being threatened with eviction.

Austria News Western Europe

Vienna Memorial

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Vienna Memorial

After a very long time, Vienna will erect a memorial to the Roma and Sinti victim of the Holocaust in the Weghuberpark in Vienna-Neubau, built in front of the Ministry of Justice.

France Germany News Western Europe

Django Reinhardt Movie

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Django Reinhardt Movie

A movie from 2017 about Django Reinhardt. While other Sinti across Europe are persecuted, Django’s popularity allows him to feel safe – until the Nazis try to send him on tour to Germany. Django refuses. His Parisian lover helps him, his pregnant wife, and his mother go into hiding near the Swiss border. There he meets members of his extended family, who are also on the run. He plans to cross Lake Geneva into Switzerland, but the Nazis are hot on his heels.

Well, the Swiss denied him Entry …

Germany News Western Europe

Roma in Berlin

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Roma in Berlin

After years of complaints and repeated police operations, the Berlin authorities are finally pulling the plug: The controversial Roma accommodation in the “BB Hotel” in Berlin Schöneberg will no longer be used to house the homeless, with many Roma under them.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

French news last week were dominated with a reportage from TF1, state TV about how minors are exploited by Roma networks to maximise gains. Again, this might be part of the reality, but how it is presented is simply pandering to sterotypes and extrapolating to all Roma. In brief, a racist narrative.

Other news, the usual: closure of a camp near Orange, in the Sotuh of France, and a fight between Roma (according to the extreme right Breizh info).

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